Two men on mopeds with knives attempted to steal Mesut Ozil’s car in London on Thursday afternoon – but as the German fled for cover, Sead Kolasinac chased them off.

Ozil was driving his Arsenal team-mate down Golders Green Road in his black Mercedes G-Class SUV when the men approached – but though he abandoned his car, Kolasinac was not about to give up without a fight and incredibly managed to scare the pair off.

Azuka Alintah, who witnessed it happening, told the Daily Mail: “It was totally mad and strange. His car was standing there empty in the middle of the road with its door hanging open. It is very distinctive, with gold trim.

“Ozil looked absolutely terrified, as anybody would after being chased by men with knives. He looked like he was running for his life. And I suppose he was.

“I saw him disappear into the restaurant with the motorcycle guys on his tail. They didn’t take off their helmets and were all in black, wearing long-sleeved tops in this hot weather. They stood out. It was really creepy.

“God knows what would have happened if they’d caught him. It looked to me like he’d have been hacked to shreds and he clearly thought so too.”

The eye witness added: “As soon as the restaurant staff started to come to the window and to the doorway, they turned around and roared off. The police were there shortly afterwards and the road was almost blocked off.’

“It was totally surreal, just surreal and strange. You don’t expect something like that to happen at any time, particularly the mid-afternoon.”